Stephenson challenges the employees to seek understanding about the causes of the country’s current racial tension and to engage in tough conversations.

“If this is a dialogue that’s going to begin at AT&T, I feel like it probably ought to start with me,” Stephenson said.

Later, Stephenson talks directly about Black Lives Matter and expresses his discontent with the All Lives Matter retort.

“When the president says ‘God Bless America,’ we don’t say, ‘Shouldn’t God bless all countries?’” he said.
He ended by saying that he wasn’t asking the group to be merely “tolerant” of each other.

“Tolerance is for cowards,” he said. “Being tolerant requires nothing from you but to be quiet and to not make waves, holding tightly to your views and judgments without being challenged. Do not tolerate each other. Work hard, move into uncomfortable territory and understand each other."

According to AT&T's 2015 report on Diversity and Inclusion, people of color comprise 43 percent of AT&T's total workforce, including about 36 percent within management positions and 49 percent on the frontline.